Category: News

Students from four UK schools gathered in the heart of Westminster on Friday 10 March to compete in the Debating Matters House of Lords Championship 2023. And what an inspiring day of debate it was!

The Burgate School took on competitors from three other schools and faced tough questions from judges and audience members to emerge as winners of the DM House of Lords Championship. 

The whole day was incredible. The venue was stunning and the fact that we, just a small school from the country, got to debate inside of the House of Lords, one of the most important places in the UK, was definitely one of the best times of my school career.
Ivan Godfree, student, Burgate School

Judges were drawn from across the House of Lords benches with peers from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Crossbench peers joining professionals from law, economics, media, education and the charitable sector. Their role was to challenge students by asking tough questions, to push them to articulate their best arguments, and to provide feedback on how to develop and improve their debating skills in the future.

What stood out to me the most was the quality of debate from all participants. The topics were thought-provoking, making for some truly engaging discussions. The judges were extremely knowledgeable and provided insightful feedback that helped us all improve our skills. DM is an excellent opportunity to develop critical thinking skills, engage with important issues and meet new, insightful people!
Kiera Napier, student, Richmond upon Thames College (RUTC)

Debating Matters aims to give young people the opportunity to discuss real-world issues by undertaking thorough research – including using our acclaimed Topic Guides and their own independent research – and by engaging in a robust but civil debate competition . They are encouraged to understand both sides of an argument, as well as the many shades of grey in between; to look at the wider context surrounding the debate and to reach for the philosophical dilemma at the heart of the issue.  It’s why DM has been called, ‘the toughest debating competition in the world!’

Ella Mulholland, from Havering, explains how the process is intellectually challenging from the outset:

My debate partner [Noor Ebrahim] and I had our own little debate in preparing for our debate, so I learnt a lot about the side I disagree with, and it actually changed my mind a bit although I still kept my position. It actually helps you grow your own side and you feel good about yourself because you know more things.
Ella Mulholland, student, Havering Sixth Form

As Ella’s comments show, although research and content-led argument is at the heart of DM, there is no substitute for debating an issue to really understand what you think, to open you up to new information and ideas and to consciously reflect on your own arguments.

Barrister Steven Barrett, one of our individual judges at the House of Lords, reflects on the process:

Judging is absolutely terrifying as there are a lot of very talented young people. What’s more, I’m supposed to just pick one for my honourable mention! But you get to see young people shining and showing their potential and you get to engage with interesting ideas and think matters through. That’s what debating is and why it matters. It is the process of thinking, of testing and improving your own thoughts. The skills these young people are developing are core skills to help them go on and succeed in life.
Steven Barrett, individual judge

Teams from Havering Sixth Form and Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School (QEGS) battled it out for a place in the final by debating ‘Social egg freezing empowers women‘ while students from Burgate School and Richmond upon Thames College tackled the motion: ‘Skills Gap: too many people are going to university‘.

The final saw the QEGS team argue ‘Tech companies should act to stop online misinformation‘ and they provided a strong defence of their position, drawing on research and making intelligent debate points. However, they were just pipped to the post by the team from Burgate who impressed the judges with their ability to continually think on their feet and to answer a range of tough questions.

The House of Lords was a grand setting for our trip, where the debating, with many superb debaters, was to such a high standard that I am amazed we won. The judges had such a variety of unique experiences that their insights, questions and feedback will greatly enhance future debates that we have. All the people there were thoughtful with interesting questions that opened up avenues of thought that we had not been prepared for. Just being able to have experienced it has been exhilarating and I hope this event keeps going so that more students can be enriched and challenged.
Ned Woodley, student, Burgate School

Well done to all competitors and especially to winners Burgate where student Thomas Florence also took home the ‘best individual’ prize.  Honourable mentions went to Ella Mulholland, Octavian Gopcalo of Havering; William Golding, Coco Rose Puren of Burgate; Charlotte Jack from QEGS and Cat Hay from RUTC.

As well as debating, students got to visit the House of Lords Chamber to hear part of the International Women’s Day debate and enjoyed lunch in the Cholmondeley Room overlooking the House of Lords terrace and the Thames. 

A special thank you goes to teachers Kasim Agpak, Evan Bailey, Tom Finn-Kelcey and Toby Marshall who encouraged their students to reach to their fullest potential:

The students are still buzzing and everyone here is so proud of them. Thank you so much for this opportunity. This was the best day in my teaching career and in addition to the students gaining from engaging with the main aim of the debating matters format this has been a life-changing experience in terms of confidence for our students over the years and of course at the House of Lords. You just never know how much they will step up and surprise themselves until they are one the stage.
Evan Bailey, teacher, Burgate School

Thanks to judges Steven Barrett, Tom Bewick, Baroness Bull, Baroness Chakrabarti, Tom Collyer, Lord Fox, Ethan Green, Timandra Harkness, Dervla Murphy, Hilary Salt, Jane Sandeman, Lord Sewell, Leo Villa and Martin Wright.

The event was supported by the House of Lords Engagement team and the Federation of Awarding Bodies, with Baroness Fox as the peer-sponsor of the event.  Prizes were provided by Hodder Education, Prospect, Academy of Ideas and the House of Lords.

NOTES

For further information about the event, the Debating Matters competition or to request photos or interviews with students, teachers, judges and other participants, please contact Mo Lovatt at mo@ideasmatter.org.uk 

Created in 2002, Debating Matters is a UK-based debating competition. DM offers a fresh, accessible and engaging format for debating contemporary real-world issues, with an emphasis on substance, not just style of debating, and the importance of taking ideas seriously. Follow Debating Matters on Twitter: @DebatingMatters

Debating Matters is a project of the Ideas Matter charity. For more information on the charity, please visit https://ideasmatter.org.uk/

For further information about the competition, visit www.debatingmatters.com

For further information about the House of Lords Engagement Programme, visit https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/get-involved-with-the-lords/engagement-programme/

from Gujurat to Leeds… DM has been inspiring young people around the globe!

Debating Matters’ reach has extended further than Europe in the last two years. In 2020, former director of DM and current curriculum manager for Mathematics at MidKent College, Tony Gilland, developed a highly successful new pilot debating tournament – DMGBIN – for 16- to 18-year- old students in India and the UK which was inspired by his work at Debating Matters.

On Sunday 27th February this year, the final of the second DMGBIN tournament took place. Over four months 16 schools, eight from the UK and eight from India, battled it out for a place in the final debate. Each school competed in three debates over Zoom to win a place in the semi-finals and then the final of the tournament. This year’s finalists were newcomers Navrachana International School, from Gujarat in India and longstanding DM participants Oakwood Park Grammar School from Kent in the UK.

Joining DMGBIN at the final for the prize-giving ceremony was one of the founders of Debating Matters, Claire Fox, director of the Academy of Ideas and an independent peer in the UK’s House of Lords, and Geoff Kidder, CEO of the boi charity which currently hosts DM. It was an exciting occasion with a completely new debate motion and Topic Guide: ‘Restricting hate speech is more important than protecting freedom of speech’. The content of the debate was challenging for both teams as the context is quite distinct in each country. Communal and religious tensions in India give rise to significant concerns about the impact of hate speech which are not directly comparable to concerns in the UK. However, both teams did a fantastic job of demonstrating a solid familiarity with all the arguments and were insightful and forceful in their defence of the importance of free speech or in arguing for restrictions.

Throughout the whole DMGBIN tournament it has been especially rewarding to hear students get so much out of engaging with their peers in a completely different country, and about issues of importance or interest to them all, but often in very different contexts. As Izzy Ottembrait commented, ‘Debating with the teams from India provided a broadened world-wide perspective and it certainly made the debates more challenging due to the global examples and experiences used.‘

This was a perspective endorsed by Lily Rana, the teacher from Navrachana International School, who said her team ‘had a remarkably rewarding experience, particularly, in recognising the onus on youth in their role as global citizens.‘

At this year’s final, the judges took a long time to make their deliberations, a real testament to both teams but finally they came to a decision and awarded the win to Oakwood Park Grammar School who argued FOR the motion. Congratulations to Oakwood Park DMGBIN champions 2021/22!

Congratulations also go to Navrachana International School, runners up in their debut year of competing in Debating Matters.  The Best Individual prize was awarded to Ashwin Knight of Oakwood Park and the Highly Commended prize went to Ashvika Menon of Navrachana. The tournament was organised by volunteer DM supporters and we are grateful to all of them. To find out more about the competition email: tony.s.gilland@gmail.com or Follow DMGBIN on Twitter @dmgbin

A bit closer to home, the DM format returned to live action in Leeds in January of this year as the annual Yrs 10 & 11 debating competition run by The Leeds Salon in partnership with Switalskis Solicitors took place.

The Final of the competition was on Wednesday 30th March at Thackray Medical Museum between qualifying round winners Abbey Grange Academy, Carr Manor Community School and Outwood Grange Academy.

In a lively and competitive round-robin style format, each team played to their strengths across the six debates. The students demonstrated a good knowledge of the debate topics and how to defend their arguments. However, in the end, there can only be one winner so congratulations to Isabel Dixon-Hardy, Delphi Harrison, Abi Hector-Goma and Madeleine Wells from Abbey Grange CofE Academy who were declared 2022 champions by the judges!

Congratulations also to the three individual prize winners: Best Individual, Greta Hirschhorn-Nolan from Carr Manor Community School; Highly Commended Individual, Isabel Dixon-Hardy of Abbey Grange CofE Academy and Commended Individual Alhasan Ahmed of Outwood Grange Academy.

And grateful thanks to venue partners Thackray Medical Museum, as well as prize partners The University of Law (Leeds), and award-winning multi-media company, Tectonic Interactive.

From everyone at DM, congratulations to Paul Thomas, co-founder of The Leeds Salon for managing to organise yet another successful competition, engaging 14 to 16 years-olds in difficult contemporary issues such as “Tech companies should act to stop online misinformation”, “Technological progress will not solve society’s environmental issues”, and “Vaccine passports benefit society”  and very well done to all involved!

As Debating Matters returns from yet another fantastic championship in Berlin, we asked our lead German partner, Sabine Beppler-Spahl, what inspired her to bring the championship to Berlin.

“As chair of the Freiblickinstitute, whose purpose is to organise public discussion on political and scientific issues, I felt the chance to host Debating Matters in Berlin was an opportunity not to be missed! Although Britain has a long tradition of schools debates, in Germany debating societies are not as well established.  But there is taste for serious, content-based debating in this country too!

“As supporters of a liberal academic education we believed it was important to encourage students to learn the art of questioning, reasoning and debating – to remind ourselves that there is never only one way to look at an argument. Fact-checking has its place and abstract knowledge is important, but how far can they help us to understand the world?  If we really want to know why we believe what we do, we should allow our ideas to be challenged and be able to debate them robustly and civilly. 

“Freiblickinstitut has taken over the organisation of the competition on a voluntary basis. Many of its members have helped with the preparation of the debates, and on running the day itself. But DM Berlin has been successful also due to the support of many others – the team in Britain, the enthusiasm of teachers and judges, and several event partners such as HeGo Biotec, World and Press, and the UE University which has accommodated the championships and provided catering for the events.

“We use the DM Topic Guides as a basis for the debates but we adapt them to account for the specificities of the German situation. We debate in English (a real testament to the English teaching our schools!) and despite our initial worries about tackling such complex issues in a foreign language, participants have been highly motivated, well-prepared, and able to argue their case convincingly. As communications consultant and frequent DM judge, Phoebe Blackburn wrote on her LinkedIn blog:   

It was a pleasure to hear the genuine clash of ideas backed by thorough research and, crucially, sometimes if not always, interaction, re-adjustment, truly listening to an adverse opinion then, changing tack. Or standing by one’s argument, impassioned, with further evidence and debate.

“We at Freiblick believe it’s important to continue to host Debating Matters because every generation needs thinkers and questioners and we’re looking forward to the next Berlin Championship!”

Sabine Beppler-Spahl, chair Freiblickinstitute e.V.

An enthusiastic and well-researched team from Nelson-Mandela-Schule saw off competition from seven other Berlin schools this year to emerge as victors in the Debating Matters Berlin Championship 2022.

The team competed in three group-stage debates and, in the final, took on fellow group-stage winners Schadow-Gymnasium to argue against the motion “Tech companies should act to stop online misinformation”. Both teams were well-prepared and argued passionately for their side of the motion. That meant the panel of judges – Professor Stefan Chatrath, Professor Oleg Dik and DM alumnus Julia Dannemann-Freitag – had a tough job on their hands coming to a final decision! However, Nelson-Mandela-Schule eventually emerged victorious, rounding off an intellectually thrilling day of debate organised by Freiblickinstitut and hosted by University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) on its Berlin Campus.

During the final, Robert Leonhardt and Vasco de Menezes from Schadow-Gymnasium offered a range of convincing and well-researched arguments for how tech companies could do more to address online misinformation. But ultimately, it was Emily Reid and Luis Rosefeldt’s impassioned and consistent defence of free speech that tipped the judges, who awarded them overall winners of the competition.

Students from across Berlin arrived at UE’s Berlin campus to take part in the competition, ably supported by their dedicated teachers from:

· Eckener-Gymnasium                         · Gottfried-Keller-Gymnasium

· Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium             · Humboldt-Gymnasium

· Nelson-Mandela-Schule                   · Paulsen-Gymnasium

· Schadow-Gymnasium                      · Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium

Judges from UE joined others from the worlds of publishing, journalism, arts & culture, business, public services and many more, to put the young debaters on the spot to develop and justify their arguments and compete for a range of prestigious prizes. This year, the prize partners were World and Press, Stadtwandel Verlag as well as co-hosts Freiblickinstitut. A German, liberal think-tank, the Freiblickinstitut stands for freedom and progress, and regularly hosts debates on a range of current issues from politics and the economy to science and art. The institute has been a longstanding champion of DM Berlin and its ethos of open debate.

The judges awarded Emily Reid of Nelson-Mandela-Schule the coveted Best Individual prize for her tenacious approach and attention to detail, Thi Quan Tinh Tran from Humboldt-Gymnasium received a Highly Commended prize and Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium’s Ferdinand Johnen was awarded the Commended prize.

Mr Fischer, Head of the English Department at Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium, said of the competition:

“We have really enjoyed taking part in the competition and the students were extra motivated by the setting and the people present and the care taken and by the schedule. Everything has been put together so neatly with an eye for detail and I was really impressed by the passion and energy displayed all day, which really made it a memorable event. It really has been the best competition we have taken part in in a while, and we are extremely motivated to come back!”

NOTES

For further information about the event, the Debating Matters competition or to request photos or interviews with students, teachers, judges and other participants, please contact Mo Lovatt on mo@theboi.co.uk  

Created in 2002, Debating Matters is a UK-based debating competition. DM offers a fresh, accessible and engaging format for debating contemporary real-world issues, with an emphasis on substance, not just style of debating, and the importance of taking ideas seriously. Follow Debating Matters on Twitter: @DebatingMatters

Debating Matters is a project of the boi charity. For more information on the charity, please visit www.theboi.co.uk

For further information about the competition, visit www.debatingmatters.com

For further information about Freiblickinstitut, visit www.freiblickinstitut.de

We’re delighted to announce that Debating Matters is returning to Berlin – live and in person, for our seventh DM Berlin championship.

On Thursday 16 June, during a full day of lively debates, eight Berlin schools will battle it out to become Debating Matters Berlin 2022 Champions. Along the way, teams will have to tackle such issues as whether technical progress can solve our environmental problems, whether Western museums should repatriate their cultural artefacts and if UBI can solve our economic and social problems.  The group stages will culminate in the winners of each group taking on the topic, Tech companies should act to stop online misinformation in the grand final.

This year, teams will be competing from Eckener-Gymnasium, Schadow Gymnasium, Paulsen-Gymnasium, Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium, Humboldt-Gymnasium, Gottfried-Keller-Gymnasium, Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium and Nelson-Mandela-Schule.

Debating Matters has always felt honoured to work with Freiblickinstitut to bring the competition to Germany, and we are delighted to do so again this year. We’re also very pleased, after a year of debates on Zoom, to be back at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences and we’d like to thank both our partners for their hard work and commitment to making this year’s event possible.

At the heart of the championship, as always, will be Debating Matters unique brand of ‘substance over style’ debating, the unparalleled interaction between judges and debaters, plenty of audience involvement, and a commitment to taking ideas seriously. For details of the full competition, please visit the EVENT page of our website and, if you’re in Berlin on 16 June and would like to be in the audience for the event, please get in touch with Mo Lovatt. 

A fitting way to approach the end of a challenging but inspiring academic year

It has been an eventful academic year as Debating Matters has moved our unique format online to provide a much-needed dose of public-spirited debate and discussion in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The most recent of our online championships provided a fantastic illustration of how essential Debating Matters can be, and gave a great justification for the work done to make sure Debating Matters can thrive online.

It was also a great demonstration of how the Debating Matters format allows new schools to thrive, with both Springwood High School making their debut in the competition but managing to come away with the crown. Bacup & Rawtenstall, winning with a unique approach, also demonstrated another Debating Matters ideal: “Debating Matters because ideas matter”.

Of course, a debate needs two sides and the June’s other finalist, Invicta Grammar School, along with July’s runner up Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr, showed a great range of arguments as they beat other schools to make it through to the final. Credit also to all the schools competing in our final two championships: Oundle School, The Kingston Academy, The Burgate School and Sixth Form, and St George’s College, Weybridge – in June – and Cirencester College, Richmond upon Thames College, Jersey School for Girls, and John Hampden Grammar School in July. 

If the Debating Matters Online format proved itself towards the beginning of the academic year, where Maidstone Grammar School and Barnard Castle School won the first two championships, as we approached the end the online format has only become more polished, and our new series of Public Policy Championships have given schools and colleges the chance to delve into pressing cultural, scientific and social issues.

For these championships, it was great to release a new and newly updated range of the famed Debating Matters topic guides, covering topical issues such as whether governments should impose extra duties on Universities to uphold free speech, if vaccine passports will benefit society, if the UK should reduce the foreign aid budget, what should be done with controversial statues and contested museum artefacts, whether UBI is a solution to social and economic problems, and many more. 

We offer our thanks to the Politics and Economics Research Trust (PERT) for their support of these Public Policy Championships. We knew from the first of these championships, held earlier in the year, how vital it is to give pupils the chance to debate these pressing public policy issues and June’s championship has proven this again.

Many pupils stood out in these debates, and came away with prizes generously donated by organisations such as Hodder Education, Prospect Magazine, Oxford University Press, and the Academy of Ideas. Over the past year, as society has faced considerable challenges, the support of these organisations has been more important than ever and Debating Matters offers thanks for their generous support.

The students getting their hands on individual prizes were, for the July competition, Cindy Igeme of Richmond upon Thames College who won ‘Commended’, Katie Mutyambizi of Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr, who won ‘Highly Commended’, and the ‘Best Individual’ of the competition went to Zara Bek from winning school Springwood High School. In June, the winners were Niamh Miller from The Burgate School who won ‘Commended’, Asher Ghafoor from Bacup and Rawstenstall, who won ‘Highly Commended’, and the ‘Best Individual’ of the competition went to Annie from Invicta Grammar school.

Whilst Debating Matters relished the chance to take the format online, allowing schools from around the country to debate each other, and allowing us to once again bring the format to Germany for this year’s Debating Matters Berlin, the year has presented significant challenges for schools. That’s why we want to recognise the hard work and dedication of teachers up and down the country who have responded to these challenges with passion and inspiration.

However, Debating Matters – like many pupils, teachers, parents and others – certainly looks forward to when schools are able to return to normal and in-person Debating Matters Championships can return!

A brilliant series of performances gave Barnard Castle School the victory in a challenging week of online debate in Debating Matters’ first Public Policy Championships. It was a fantastic series of debates over the week, showcasing a range of new Debating Matters Topic Guides and a renewed focus on real-world policy discussions.

Students debated a range of contemporary issues, from whether vaccine passports benefit society to whether the UK should reduce its foreign aid budget, whether the government should intervene to discourage unhealthy lifestyles and whether monuments to controversial figures should be torn down.

In all cases, the debates were hard-fought with the schools demonstrating their research and carefully crafted arguments. There was a hard battle for victory in each of the discussions, with the winners being those who impressed the judges – and stood up to their questioning – by driving home arguments gleaned from the extensive resources available in the new Topic Guides.

It was a feisty team from Burnley College who made it through to the final, but they were narrowly beaten by Barnard Castle, who managed to convince the judges that removing controversial monuments did more to erase the past than come to terms with it. Burnley, however, gave a great account of themselves, and impressed in their victories over Havering Sixth Form College and Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Faversham in the group stages. Barnard Castle had battled their way through debates against The Ecclesbourne School and Queen Mary’s College, all of whom put up stiff resistance.

As ever, each of the schools were put under pressure by panels of expert judges, who encouraged the pupils to further develop their arguments and think quickly on their feet. Debating Matters offers thanks to all those judges who volunteered their time to help develop the next generation of young minds.

In addition to the prizes for the winner and runners-up teams, Debating Matters was delighted to award prizes for the top three ‘best individuals’ who had impressed the judges throughout the competition with consistently great questions. Winning the Commended (third place) prize was Isabelle Passmore from Burnley College, and the Highly Commended (second place) prize was Tadgh Kerin from Havering College. But the Best Individual from the tournament was Anna Coyle of the victorious Barnard Castle, as she seriously impressed the judges with her intellectual nimbleness and range of arguments.

In addition to the three prize winners, the judges were very keen to ensure that the wide variety of great contributions were acknowledged, which meant ‘honourable mentions’ were given to: Isaac Tompkinson, Katie Skelton and Pandora Deaville from The Ecclesbourne School; Jamie Spice and Emily Jack of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Faversham; Megan Lucas of Burnley College; and Ella Thomas and Adam Cramer of Queen Mary’s College.

The Debating Matters Public Policy Championships will return very soon to offer the opportunity for a fresh set of young people to battle it out over important public debates confronting society.

Debating Matters is delighted to announce its next three championship events. As ever, these championships will see schools from around the country take on their peers in a series of debates overseen by panels of eminent judges. 

At the heart of the championships, as always, will be Debating Matters unique brand of ‘substance over style’ debating, the unparalleled interaction between judges and debaters, plenty of audience involvement, and a commitment to taking ideas seriously. 

Debating Matters has always prided itself on encouraging young people to dig into the complex debates at the heart of contemporary discussions. That’s why we’re delighted that these next three championship events will all have a specific focus on public policy issues, from whether the foreign aid budget should be cut to whether social media sites should clamp down on disinformation, whether controversial statues should be removed or whether we need a universal basic income in the aftermath of the pandemic. 

“We’re thrilled to be working on this unique set of championships thanks to the support of PERT. Seeing young people explore ideas and develop their arguments is one of the great privileges of Debating Matters. As ever, we can’t wait to bring Debating Matters’ brand of tough, respectful and intellectually adventurous discussion to schools right across the country.”
Geoff Kidder, chief executive, boi charity

These issues and more will feature in a new series of topic guides, written specifically with a public policy focus which will have young people debating some of the key contemporary issues of the day. 

In addition to arguing their side of the motion, competitors will have the opportunity to record their own opinions on the topics under discussion, and discuss how their opinions of the issues changed as they went through the process of preparing for the debate. Debating Matters will be giving the competitors the chance to have their say and get involved in a project which seeks to understand how young people think about contemporary issues. 

Debating Matters is delighted that this series of Public Policy Championships is supported by the Politics and Economics Research Trust (PERT). 

If you are a teacher, student or potential judge who wants to get involved, please email Mo Lovatt at mo@theboi.co.uk

For press or other public enquiries, email Jacob Reynolds at jacob@theboi.co.uk